One August night in 1994, Joey Ayala found himself on stage at Folk Arts Theater, headlining what would arguably be the biggest performance of his career.
“Awit-Banahaw” was an ambitious concert that incorporated elements of dance and theater, featuring a suite of new songs that Ayala had composed specially for the performance, along with earlier work that had entered the canon of original Pilipino music: songs such as “Agila (Haring Ibon),” “Magkabilaan,” “Walang Hanggang Paalam” and a handful of others.
The project had started out as a response to a very real problem.
Banahaw, a mountain sacred to a number of mystical cults that blended folk Christianity with old…
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